What is Mystery Babylon?

“Mystery Babylon”, in the book of Revelation chapter 17, is described by the Apostle John as the same entity as the “Whore of Babylon” which is a biblical reference to the Roman Empire. The term “Mystery” is applied to the empire because its final revelation is to be presently revealed, and the term “Whore” is applied to the empire to describe its international bloodthirsty decadence. The Roman Emperors Nero, Domitian, and to a lesser degree, Emperor Trajan, (the last ruling Emperor in the scriptures,) were noted persecutors of the early Christians and jailed and “crucified” many of them because of their religious teachings. The book of Revelation, written circa A.D. 90–100, is apocalyptic in its tone and is reminiscent of the book of Daniel in relation to its allegorical references to empires. The early struggles of the first Christian churches in the Roman Empire circa A.D. 50–100, consisted of them operating with the constant threat of destruction always looming over their heads; namely because the Orthodox Jews of the day resented the Christian’s teaching that Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the Law of Moses, and the Romans resented the Christians claim that Jesus was “the Son of God,” which was a title that was held by many of the Roman Emperors during this time period. The Christians were relentlessly disrupted by these groups in their attempts to establish Christianity as a religion, and the continued persecution that they suffered at the hands of the Orthodox Jews of the day and the Romans, prompted John the Revelator, an early Christian evangelist, and the writer of the book of Revelation, to describe these groups as the “Synagogue of Satan” (Revelation 2:9) and the “Whore of Babylon” (Revelation 17:7–10) respectively.